Poetry Reading by Jimmy Santiago Baca

The renowned poet, memoirist, and activist Jimmy Santiago Baca will be doing a poetry reading at SLU tomorrow at 4 pm, in DuBourg 409.

Baca’s recent books include two volumes of poetry that make up Breaking Bread with Darkness and A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet.

Convicted of drug possession with the intent to sell as a young man, Baca taught himself to read and write while in prison. Once released, he went on to receive numerous awards as well as a PhD in Literature from the University of New Mexico. Denise Levertov comments, “Baca writes with unconcealed passion and manifests both an intense lyricism and that transformative vision which perceives the mythical and archetypal significance of life events.” He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.